Yes,it's not a game some people have to test upto ten times a day and still have big problems with control,popping a couple o tablets is a lot of peoples dream.
Can I ask you something? Not being antagonistic mind, a genuine request. As a type 1, how much do you really know about type 2, apart from what you have heard about, whether it is on telly, in the papers etc? Did you realise that the healthy stuff that most are told to eat puts their blood sugars into the stratosphere? That it isn't just about sugar and pop, but bread, cereal, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruit.. did you know that there are many who have become diabetic because they have had to take steroids for medical conditions (check the documented evidence if you think I'm fibbing)? That there are others who have syndromes (like my daughter, diagnosed type 2 at 16 years old, on insulin since she was a year or two older) who will develop type 2?
What you seem to say, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that if type 2's hadn't been eating a shedload of sugary **** in the first place, then why would cutting it out now make any difference - hence it really is their fault for eating it.
Well, apart from the many examples I have given, something comes to mind. I know that type 1's can eat what they want (in theory) and bolus for it. ok, so does that mean it is wise to survive on a complete menu of junk food **** and take large doses of insulin, possibly ever increasing ones, to compensate? Erratic levels, maybe serious highs, dropping to hypo alert..should they be refused extra strips because they are being irresponsible, purely on the ground that they might suffer a dangerous hypo ?Probably not. It's the same with us, type 2's in all our forms. For whatever reason we find ourselves with type 2, isn't the important thing that the sense of responsibility is there, that we do not ask for test strips so we can test, then demolish a chip supper, jam roly poly and a 2 litre bottle of coke? That it is part of the knowledge that must be accumulated for a person to understand exactly what sends their levels high (2 slices of wholemeal toast sent mine up to 12.6 when I was diagnosed) and alter their food intake accordingly.
So to me, it is **** right that people do "pester" for test strips. The majority are self funded, few receive them. And I feel it's wrong.